May 3, 1913 



HORTICULTUEE 



669 



HISTORY OF GREENHOUSE ESTAB- 

 LISHMENTS IN MINNE- 

 APOLIS. 



Floriculture in Minneapolis is near- 

 ly as old as the city itself. In 1857, 

 Dr. Alfred E. Ames, uncle of the fa- 

 mous Dr. A. A. Ames, instructed his 

 brother, then a consul in Hamburg, 

 Germany, to send him a gardener. 

 Wm. Buckendorf was engaged and 

 came to Minneapolis. He, therefore, 

 was the first florist. A year later they 

 built two neat greenhouses on Eighth 

 avenue (South), between Fourth and 

 Fifth streets. For several years these 

 greenhouses were kept for private use 

 only, when Mr. Buckendorf decided to 

 operate them for commercial pur- 

 poses. In 1886, Mr. Buckendorf built a 

 greenhouse on his own property. 

 Fourth street and Seventh avenue 

 (South). This ground was sold for 

 building purposes and in 1890 Mr. 

 Buckendorf built another house on 

 Fourth avenue (South) and Seven- 

 teenth street, which was discontinued 

 in 1900. In 1862 Wyman Elliot hav- 

 ing a large nursery on Park avenue, 

 built two greenhouses where Elliot 

 Park is today. 



In 1865 R. J. Mendenhall decided to 

 have a few small greenhouses for his 

 private use. He engaged Henry Buck- 

 endorf, a brother of William Bucken- 

 dorf. They began in a small way and 

 kept enlarging until the plant was one 

 of the foremost in the country. This 

 was located on Nicollet avenue and 

 Eighteenth street (South). First ave- 

 nue was not opened up at that time. 

 After this plant covered a city block 

 and some space across the street, an- 

 other one was started at Twenty- 

 eighth avenue (South) and Thirty- 

 eighth street. In 1903 Mr. Mendenhall 

 sold out to L. S. Donaldson, and one 

 year later the greenhouses were torn 

 down. 



About the same year Mr. Menden- 

 hall started, George Brackett built a 

 greenhouse where the City Hospital is 

 now located. This was operated a few 

 years by Mr. Brackett, with Mr. Boose 

 as florist, and later Mr. Kilvington. In 

 1883, Mr. Kilvington built a greenhouse 

 near Lakewood Cemetery on Henne- 

 pin and Thirty-sixth street (South), 

 which has been dismantled for many 

 years. In 1880, Mr. White started the 

 establishment on Twenty-second ave- 

 nue and Garfield street (N. E.), which 

 now belongs to O. H. Carlson. Mr. 

 White had a nursery, a dairy, and one 

 small greenhouse. This was purchased 

 in 1905 by O. H. Carlson and rebuilt 

 into a modern plant. 



In 1880, C. A. Smith erected a plant 

 at 3501 Portland avenue, which he 

 operated until 1899, when it was 

 bought by L. S. Donaldson. Mr. Don- 

 aldson has been running this in con- 

 nection with his department store. W. 

 D. Desmond is manager at present. 



In 1886, Wesling & Hartman, then 

 two young men, started what is now 

 Lakewood Cemetery Greenhouse on 

 Hennepin and Thirty-sixth street. 

 Two years later they separated, Mr. 

 Hartman remaining on the old place, 

 and Mr. Wesling building in his pres- 

 ent location, 3538 Hennepin avenue. 

 The same year Fred Bush began the 

 erection of his present handsome 

 plant on Lyndale and Fiftieth street 

 (South), then far out in the country. 

 In 1888, John Vasatka started on Chi- 



cago avenue and Thirty-fourth street 

 (South), and he is still doing busi- 

 ness at the same stand. 



In 1887, Henry Bartsch opened up 

 on Twenty-fourth street and Twenty- 

 ninth avenue (South). Five years 

 later he moved to Sixth avenue 

 (North) and Irving, where he stayed 

 until he discontinued business a few 

 years ago. In 1888, Mr. E. Nagel com- 

 menced the greenhouse now owned by 

 his son, T. Nagel, on 1118 West Lake 

 street. 

 About the same time Henry Bucken- 



ADVERnsiNQ TALKS 



BY 



Ralph M. Ward 



No. 8 



For a long-time advertising invest- 

 ment of permanent value, the 

 writer believes that the American 

 school children should be imme- 

 diately looked after. Those in the 

 schools now will be your prospec- 

 tive customers before you realize 

 it. What are you doing to educate 

 them regarding flowers? You can 

 bring more influence on them right 

 now than you will ever be able to 

 after they leave school, and for a 

 comparatively small amount of 

 money. Their minds are in a most 

 receptive state — they will never 

 forget what is now being taught 

 them, especially what is made in- 

 teresting to them. If the florists 

 of a town or city would co-operate 

 in supplying the schools with flow- 

 ers periodically, what a benefit it 

 would be to them in the long run! 

 Suppose a school contained 500 pu- I 

 pils and owing to a glut of flowers 

 Mr. Gravel-grubber loosened up 

 and gave each child a good flower. 

 What would 500 flowers be as com- 

 pared with 500 tongues wagging 

 all over town as a result? It would 

 be the least expensive kind of ad- 

 vertising, if not overdone. Chil- 

 dren are the best carriers of good 

 news among humans. Their In- 

 fluence upon their parents is great- 

 ly underestimated. If the National 

 Society would establish and sup- 

 port a Publicity Association to edu- 

 cate the school children florally, it 

 would be doing something really 

 worth while for the benefit of 

 everyone in the florist business as 

 well as mankind in general. Let 

 us hope there will be some spark 

 soon that will kindle the fire that 

 will burn results into the minds of 

 young Americans. It will take 

 some money, but in proportion to 

 the benefits which are bound to 

 follow, the amount is infinitesimal. 





dorf started in business on Aldrich 

 avenue (North) and Western avenue. 

 Mr. Buckendorf stayed there until a 

 large factory building was erected 

 which obscured practically all the 

 light, so he sold out to the factory 

 and retired. 



In 1889, what is now called Mer- 

 riam Park Greenhouse was started. 

 Later it was leased to Kaiser & Wel- 

 ander. In 1890 the Washburn, Des- 

 mond and Sunnyside greenhouses 

 were built. Mr. Desmond's house on 

 Portland and Twenty-fourth streets 



was sold in 1893 to R. J. Mendenhall. 

 Mr. Gust Malmquist directed the 

 building of Senator Washburn's green- 

 house located on Stevens avenue and 

 Twenty-fourth street, and the last few 

 years he has been running it on his 

 own account. The Sunnyside green- 

 house at 817 Fifth avenue (Southeast) 

 was built by Miss Hilliker and it is 

 now owned and operated by her hus- 

 band, Walter Pier. 



In 1892, R. Will laid the foundation 

 of the extensive plant of Will Bros. 

 Company. In 1898 the Drake green- 

 house on Fourth avenue (South) 

 and Lake street was built. In 1900, 

 John Munson commenced the plant ot 

 the Minneapolis Floral Company, on 

 Thirty-sixth street and Calhoun Boule- 

 vard. This has become the leader in 

 size. In 1901, Sauer & Rosacker 

 built the plant of the East Side 

 Floral Company on 1621 Adam 

 street (Northeast). The next year 

 Hans Rosacker started his own plant 

 on Nineteenth avenue (Northeast) and 

 Stinson Boulevard. In 1904, Robert 

 Stern built a greenhouse on Thirty- 

 eighth avenue (North) and Girard 

 street. The same year Mr. Drake 

 erected a building across the street. 

 Both plants are now operated by Mr. 

 Stern. Two years later the following 

 greenhouses were erected: Thos. Hall 

 on Lyndale avenue and Thirty-sixth 

 street (South); Julius Rieck on 1318 

 Washington avenue (North), and Hia- 

 watha Gardens Company on 3406 Uni- 

 versity avenue (Southeast). In 1911 

 the latter company built another plant 

 on Lyndale avenue and Fifty-seventh 

 street (South). The same year Hop- 

 per & Magnusen built the plant of the 

 Central Floral Company on Central 

 avenue and Twenty-sixth avenue 

 (Northeast). In the year of 1907 the 

 Park Board started to build a green- 

 house ranch at the Lyndale Farm- 

 stead, Thirty-eighth street and Bry- 

 ant avenue (South). Additions have 

 been made since then. The plant now 

 consists of five growing houses and 

 the total amount of glass is 12,000 

 square feet. This completes the list, 

 but material is already on the place 

 of John Vasatka, Chicago avenue and 

 F'orty-third street, for a new plant. 



Up until 1900 every grower was his 

 own retailer and we had only two re- 

 tailers, namely. Miss H. B. Whitted, 

 who began in 1894 and Swanson In 

 1898. We now have a large number of 

 stores. Thos. Lynes opened up in 

 1901, and R. Latham in 1903. In 1906, 

 Miss H. B. Whitted moved to Fifth 

 street and opened another store at 

 Tenth and Nicollet streets in 1910. 

 In 1912 she opened a store in the 

 Radisson Hotel Building. O. E. 

 Amundson began business in 1904 and 

 Carl Lindskoog in 1907. In 1912, W. 

 F. Holmes and W. H. Bofferding went 

 into business. In addition we have 

 candy and grocery stores which han- 

 dle flowers as a side-line, too numer- 

 ous to mention. 



In 1900, Brant & Noe of Chicago 

 opened up a commission house In 

 Minneapolis, with Cal. Rice in charge. 

 After a year's experience this was 

 discontinued as not being profitable. 

 After this, Cal. Rice and Arthur Rice 

 continued the business under the 

 name of Rice Bros. From a very 

 small beginning, they now have an 

 establishment which is equal to the 

 best. 



